Uganda and Kenya Name Two More Bishops for the USA: CEN 7.06.07 p 6. July 6, 2007

Uganda and Kenya have named two more bishops to support their congregations in the United States. On June 27 Archbishop Henry Orombi of Uganda announced that former North Dakota Bishop Andrew Fairfield had quit The Episcopal Church for Uganda, while on June 29 Archbishop Benjamin Nzimbi of Kenya named Massachusetts priest William Murdoch a suffragan bishop.

Bishop Fairfield is the fourth Episcopal bishop to quit the Church this year, while the appointment of Bishop-elect Murdoch by Kenya increases to 11 the number of bishops overseen by foreign Anglican jurisdictions active in The Episcopal Church.

Archbishop Orombi said it was an honor to receive Bishop Fairfield into the Ugandan Church noting he would be a “great support to Bishop-elect John Guernsey and all the congregations in America that are under our care.”

Elected Bishop of North Dakota in 1989, Bishop Fairfield retired in 2003. Prior to his consecration he served his entire career in the Diocese of Alaska, first as a missionary along the Yukon River and then as an assistant to the bishop. In moving to the Ugandan Church Bishop Fairfield said he sought “further Christian service, especially in the process of this transition in Anglican orthodoxy.”

Pittsburgh Bishop Robert Duncan applauded the move, saying Bishop Fairfield had “found a new ecclesiastical home in the Church of Uganda, a Province which has declared a state of broken communion with The Episcopal Church’s majority, but embraces full communion with all in the Anglican Communion Network.”

Bishop Fairfield is the fourth member of the House of Bishops to quit The Episcopal Church this year. In March, retired Assistant Bishop of Oklahoma William Cox moved to the Church of the Province of the Southern Cone, retired Suffragan Bishop of Albany, David Bena was received by the Church of Nigeria and serves as an Assistant Bishop of CANA, while the former Bishop of Albany Daniel Herzog was received by the Roman Catholic Church.

On June 29 the Provincial Synod of the Anglican Church of Kenya elected William L. Murdoch a Suffragan Bishop of All Saints Cathedral Diocese in Nairobi to “serve the international interests of the ACK including taking responsibility for care for the congregations and clergy in the USA under Kenyan jurisdiction,” Archbishop Nzimbi said.

Kenya’s two new American bishops, Bill Atwood and William Murdoch, “will collaborate with others in the Common Cause network, chaired by the Rt. Rev. Robert Duncan to provide orthodox Episcopal care and oversight, strategically uniting a broad conservative coalition that shares historic Anglican faith and practice.”
Rector of All Saints Episcopal Church in West Newbury, Mass., since 1993, Bishop-elect Murdoch was received by The Episcopal Church in 1984 after serving as a Congregationalist minister. He has served as Dean of the Anglican Communion Network’s New England Convocation since 2004.